We seem to be in the “dog days” of summer around here. The days that are hot, muggy and generally uncomfortable if you are outside too long.
To prepare for these days I made Pineapple Slush so we would have a cool refreshing treat after a day of working outside. Especially after an afternoon of baling, or hand weeding in the garden or pretty much anything outside.
I haven’t made this recipe in a few years. I think the last time I made slush was for a “shed raising” at our farm. A few years back; we decided it was time to put up a machine shed. Instead of just hiring someone, my husband went to a DIY (do it yourself) type store and ordered the materials he would need to put one up.
The Materials Have Arrived!
We found someone in our area willing to rent out their telehandler thing, talked to our daughter in law’s brother (who had worked construction) and set out to build a shed. As our sons would be around on the 4th of July weekend that year we decided that was the optimum time to get started.
Of course the day they set the poles, July 5, it was blisteringly hot and muggy…..a fairly typical Iowa summer day in July. I am not sure why we thought the weather would be comfortable at that point?? You would think after living our entire lives in this area we would know how hot it can get.
By the time it was afternoon and time for a much needed lunch break; the guys were ready for something cool and the Pineapple Slush was just the ticket. The recipe makes an ice cream bucket full plus a little extra.
Pineapple Slush
6 cups water
4 cups white sugar
1- 46 oz. can pineapple juice
2 – 12 oz. cans frozen orange juice
1 – 12 oz. can frozen lemonade
6 bananas – mashed
Bring water and sugar to a boil.
Chill till cold.
Add remaining ingredients.
Mix and freeze in a 5 quart pail.
Stir once during freezing.
To serve, put a scoop (or more) in a glass and fill with soda
7-Up, Sprite, Orange soda are all good.
(Palm Breeze is also pretty good in this)
Note: I usually forget to stir during freezing
and my mashed bananas tend to float to the top.
The shed was a weekend building project….multiple weekends; because everyone had other full-time jobs they needed to be at. Calendars would get checked often as to when was the best weekend to get the most guys to help. It took most of the summer, lots of persistence, buckets of slush, watermelon and a few tubes of aloe vera gel for the sunburnt shoulders …..but the shed did eventually get done.
The guys loved the tele handler and it sure made the job a lot easier and safer.
I also know that my sons had a good time taking pictures from waaay up when they were in that basket of the tele handler. They all seemed to think owning one of them would be pretty handy.
Old and New
I am not sure how many hours were spent or how many weekends were taken up with shed building or how much slush was consumed while putting the shed up …. I do know that it was a lot of fun having family and friends around to help out. We did a lot of work on the shed, a lot of laughing and lots of eating on those weekends. We also really enjoy being able to get pretty much all the farm equipment under cover.
Two people are better off than one,
for they can help each other succeed.
Ecclesiastes 4:9
The Chicken Grandma 